Woman arrested after PM’s electorate office attacked
Police have arrested a woman in relation to an attack on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s electorate office yesterday morning.
The front door of the prime minister’s office in Morningside, Auckland, was smashed and what appeared to be a samurai sword was lying nearby.
Police said a 57-year-old was arrested at a Coatesville house.
Emergency services attended Ardern’s electorate office shortly after 8.30am yesterday. A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he saw a person walking down the road towards the office, smashing the front doors with an implement.
He said he saw the person throw something in through a hole in the door, with smoke coming from the building shortly after. At 9.03am, a person sent an email to Stuff, claiming responsibility for the incident. ‘‘At 8.20 this morning I smashed a hole in her electoral office door and dropped the bomb in [sic].’’
A Stuff journalist at the scene saw smoke and heard firefighters warning the owner of a nearby shop not to ‘‘touch the machete handle’’. About 10am a plainclothes officer placed the bladed object into an evidence bag.
Police confirmed they received a report of what they are treating as ‘‘wilful damage’’, where an ‘‘object was thrown through a window’’. There were no injuries, police said, and the building was unoccupied at the time.
Deb Fong, who owns a yoga studio next door, said she could smell the smoke. She did not see the incident but said: ‘‘You just have to wonder how people get this crazy. Luckily it was before any of the staff got in.’’
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed she was aware of the incident.
The spokesperson said the Prime Minister’s Office never commented on issues of security so would not answer any questions around whether electorate offices, or Ardern herself, would see heightened levels of security in the wake of the attack.
Ardern is currently in Antarctica for the 65th anniversary of Scott Base, New Zealand’s permanent presence and research facility on the ice continent.